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UAFS Renames Downtown Concert, Theater Venue

UAFS Renames Downtown Concert, Theater Venue

PHOTO COURTESY OF UAFS The Blue Lion at UAFS Downtown is the new name for the entertainment venue formerly known as Second Street Live! and UAFS at Second Street. Owned by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, the facility will host concerts by Mr. Cabbagehead & The Screamin’ Radishes and the Chris Cameron Blues Band, as well as various UAFS performances, workshops and other events.

A new name has been branded upon one of Fort Smith’s most popular live-entertainment venues.

The venue initially known as Second Street Live! is now called the Blue Lion at UAFS Downtown and will continue to offer various concerts, theatrical presentations and more at 101 N. Second St., said Paul B. Beran, chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. The venue was acquired by UAFS last year and temporarily renamed UAFS at Second Street before receiving its new name.

“When the university bought the building, we knew we had to rename it,” Beran said. “We were going to incorporate the Second Street name into it, but then I said, ‘This isn’t good for our branding.’

“The other Second Street organization is still running shows, so the whole name-versus-location thing was causing confusion,” he added.

A contest was held recently that called for community members to submit new name propoals for the venue, which has hosted performances by Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey), Mavericks singer-guitarist Raul Malo, Billy Joe Shaver and Trout Fishing in America, as well as numerous local student and faculty performance groups.

“The new name is an amalagam of several different name submissions; nobody submitted that specific name,” Beran said. “The new name incorporates different aspects of the university — blue is our color, the lion is our mascot — and so it’s a good fit.”

The Blue Lion at UAFS Downtown’s location is ideal for both performers and the community, he said.

“I see downtown as an incredibly important element of what we do with students,” Beran said. “We have a cooperation effort with the (Arkansas Best Corporation) Performing Arts Center and people like Claude Legris and others, so it’s a great cooperative effort for us.

“And I also felt it was important to represent the university in the downtown area, but not single it out,” he added. “As we grow, we don’t know if we’ll have another venue located in the downtown area. If in fact we do have another downtown location, we will continue the ‘at UAFS Downtown’ part in the name.”

“The Nov. 27 concert is a fundraiser for the Miss UAFS Scholarship Pageant, and we’re excited about that,” Beran said. “Not all of the concerts and events we’ll have at the Blue Lion will be fundraisers, but we’re excited to be able to offer that.”

Tickets for the Nov. 27 concert are $20 and can be purchased by calling 788-7300 or emailing boxoffice@uafs.edu. Tickets for the Chris Cameron concert can be purchased by calling 788-7300 and at uafs.universitytickets.com.

“The Blue Lion at UAFS Downtown is a great venue for our students and faculty in music, theater and other areas,” Beran said. “We needed a small to medium-sized venue that provides the educational things we need. We know we need to focus on what we can serve as an educational environment.”